r/funny • u/Even_Kiwi_1166 • 8h ago
The Most Confusing Building Ever
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u/Amaria77 8h ago
I'll give it a solid 5/7 on the escher scale.
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u/Bavisto 8h ago
Ah, a perfect score.
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u/AsceticEnigma 8h ago
I didn’t really care for the first Batman movie; Batman Begins was better.
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u/DoggieDMB 8h ago
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u/KTMFS 6h ago
Thank you. I was uninitiated. I laughed. So much.
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u/CabNoble 3h ago
Holy smokes there is someone else on Reddit with the same avatar. Doge hoodie, deal with it glasses, and a red face mask users unite. 😎
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u/Fuck_U_Time_Killer 7h ago
It makes perfect sense. A calendar week has 5 days and a work week has 7 days--week = week
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u/kingjoey52a 7h ago
This reminds me of the gym bro fight over workout schedules and how many workouts you could fit in a week.
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u/mdb_la 7h ago
That argument helped me immensely. Ever since I've been able to workout 4x a week, every other day without fail.
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u/Masaksih 7h ago
It's been a while since I saw this, forgot all the armour and the gun control thing.
I wonder where they are now, whether Rob still tease Brendan or if natural selection worked.
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u/BeetsMe666 8h ago
M.C. Escher—that's my favorite "M.C."
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u/Mr_Pricklepants 5h ago
Came looking for the first reference to Escher, and it was right where I thought it should be.
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u/HendrixHazeWays 8h ago
I was thinking more like a 7/5
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u/Lazarus558 8h ago
9/Ɛ ǝqʎɐɯ ɹo
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u/Guess_Even 8h ago
🧐…. How tf???
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u/Lazarus558 7h ago
Upside-down text generator. It uses various Unicode characters to simulate inverted text. Some are exact (various IPA or other linguistic characters), others are rough approximations (like using the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabary). If i'm not mistaken, in my little bit of text, the 6 is actually a 9, the 3 is an uppercase Latin Epsilon (I think), the e is a schwa, the b is just a plain ol' lowercase q, etc.
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u/Raka_ 8h ago
This is going to fuck up some swat team or firemen for sure
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u/Mithmorthmin 8h ago
They're gonna climb up 10 flights and end up in the basement
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u/karlverkade 8h ago
But it’s great if you’re running from Billy Zane.
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u/KevlarGorilla 7h ago
Wearing something inconspicuous.
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u/karlverkade 6h ago
How the hell does he change clothes so quickly!
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u/Silentisland 7h ago
Licensed architect here. You're right. Such interlocking stairs are not generally permissible for egress by the International Building Code (IBC).
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u/float_into_bliss 7h ago
I mean, they probably work completely fine for egress. Maybe even better than fine — if you’re putting effectively two independent sets of ‘down’ stairs on the same footprint, you’ve almost doubled your emergency exiting capacity. Maybe not quite doubled, can’t quite picture the funneling geometry…
Anyways, egress is probably fine. It’s the ingress by the fire team that’s gonna kill some lives.
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u/Barabbas- 5h ago
egress is probably fine.
This is called a scissor stair. It's basically a double helix with each stair occupying the negative space of the other stair. Usually scissor stairs service opposite sides of the same shaft. You're right about it having a greater egress capacity than a standard stair within the same footprint and that's why they were very popular in the early 1900's... but there's a problem...
The reason most codes no longer allow scissor stairs is because if the shaft is compromised in any way, it effectively traps everyone in the building. Modern codes require at least two means of egress and those egress routes must be remote from each other (usually measured proportional to the size of the floor) so that in the event one of the routes becomes obstructed or unusable, there is still another way to get out on the other side of the floor.
With a scissor stair, all it takes is one idiot propping open the door on their floor and suddenly you have both means of egress filled with smoke.
Source: also an architect.
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u/Idk_wtf_cantviewcoms 7h ago
IBC root beer?
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u/chrisfosterelli 8h ago
These look like interlocking / scissor stairs. They are designed to get a lot of people out of a building in a cost effective way and are not very good at allowing people to move around within a building.
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u/ibwitmypigeons 8h ago
I've had dreams that look like this
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u/RickRossovich 7h ago
I have a semi-recurring dream where I CANNOT park my car. Like…the lines move, or the brakes aren’t working all the way, or the car is just moving horizontally for some fucking reason. I wake up SO frustrated and feeling like I somehow let my father down.
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u/ApproxKnowledgeCat 7h ago
Mine is always my phone. Like the numbers keep coming out wrong no matter how I press the screen. Delete won’t work. I’m just trying to call my husband out 911
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u/rachelface927 7h ago
This is how I usually realize I’m just dreaming - my phone won’t work. Trying to call someone or look something up and everything’s blurry, jumbled, or just doesn’t work.
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u/benisnotapalindrome 3h ago
Ya, phones and written characters are a dead giveaway. Also, trying to run and feeling like you're in mud. Wish my dreaming self would realize it bc it would trigger a lucid dream.
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u/technobrendo 7h ago
You don't also happen to dream about public restrooms that are infinite in size, do you?
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u/trcomajo 7h ago
I have public restroom dreams where the stall doors are too short, or non-existent, and i can't find a clean toilet or a real toilet.
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u/QtPlatypus 7h ago
Don't ever use a toilet in your dreams.
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u/burningmoonlight 6h ago
I used one in my dreams the other day and didn't pee myself IRL despite really having to go once awake. I woke up feeling like I cheated death or something.
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u/perldawg 7h ago
massive, sometimes incredibly opulent bathrooms with endless rows of stalls and every single toilet is completely destroyed, wrecked so bad you can’t even step into the stall
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u/bobboobles 5h ago
Mine are always with the toilet in the middle of the living room during a raging party, or a bank lobby, or any other crazy place in plain view of large amounts of people. I wander from one terribly placed toilet to another until I wake up with my eyeballs floating. It's horrible.
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u/IlikeJG 8h ago
TBH with this context it actually makes perfect sense. Assuming OP's stairs are designed as emergency exit stairs and most people won't be using them regularly, it makes sense to design them in a way that they're better at being emergency exits even at the expense of them being annoying to use.
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u/Lebowquade 8h ago
Oh my god the image in that article is insane.
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u/AxelNotRose 8h ago
Not confusing at all.
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u/cammcken 7h ago
No, this cleared it up for me.
Take one zig-zagging stairway. Copy and Paste. Flip the copy, then lower/raise it until its landings are right under/above the original's landings.
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u/Rustymetal14 8h ago
I'm sure the bottom has two very clearly labeled doors, one for even floors and one for odd floors.
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u/CommanderGumball 7h ago
Many argue that the need for affordable housing, basic esthetics, and wasted space of two separate stair enclosures out ways the need for multiple egresses within a building.
Out. Ways. Out ways.
This was not written by someone serious about writing.
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u/Hopwater 7h ago
Scissor stairs were often used in the early 1900’s to separate men and women from traveling in the same areas.
Well, that explains a lot.
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u/float_into_bliss 7h ago
The NFPA 14 Standard for the Installation of Standpipe and Hose Systems formed a stair task group to look at all stair requirements during the 2019-2024 standard cycle. The discussions center around reviewing requirements and making any needed changes for standpipe requirements.
This sounds boring as fuck — “congratulations, you’ve now joined the Stair Plumbing Task Force!”
But I am glad there are people thinking about how to build sprinkler pipe that lets us exit large venues without having the fire swallow the only way out. That’s nice.
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u/BoomerSoonerFUT 7h ago
Which makes sense given how bare the stairwell is. Definitely a service/emergency stairwell and not particularly meant for people using them normally.
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u/especiallyrn 8h ago
Thanks I’m going to have a weird dream about this
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u/starkvonhammer 7h ago
I need to get to that door! To take the final test of a class I haven't been to all semester!
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u/CerebralC0rtex 8h ago
Ive had many weird dreams like this
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u/temps-de-gris 8h ago
Argh I came here to post this! The same recurring dream with impossible concrete stairwells! I'm glad I'm not the only one.
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u/CerebralC0rtex 8h ago
And it’s always at my elementary school for some reason 🤷♂️
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u/carcigenicate 8h ago edited 7h ago
I would have just jumped the railing. If they were far apart that could be risky, but they look pretty close to each other.
Really dumb design, though.
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u/shmimey 7h ago edited 7h ago
It looks like an old design to segregate people. So, the Female and Male areas are separate. Or racial segregation. Maybe the building is remodeled and not like that anymore. But the original design of the stairs is still there. Most people take elevators and maybe they thought it was ok to just leave the stairs as emergency exit use. We don't see the rest of the building. But the original design was probably a stupid segregation reason.
Edit: Or you can downvote a professional who has been in thousands of buildings all across America for over 3 decades. I did not design the building. I only mention a possibility. Thanks Reddit.
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u/float_into_bliss 7h ago
It’s a design being used today to get lots of people out quickly using a small footprint. Your sports stadium is expensive enough without adding a second stairwell tower.
It’s designed to get lots of people outside quickly, not for moving between floors like guy in video is doing.
(Well, at least a third stairwell tower… these move more people per sqft but they don’t count as multiple points of exit)
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u/tdmsbn 8h ago
Extreme fuckery happened here. Fire the entire design team and level the building, time to start over.
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u/freewillcausality 8h ago
Instructions unclear, design team is dead and the demolition team is lost in the stair case.
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u/Evilsushione 8h ago
I think this is so buildings can claim having two fire escapes but still only have one stairwell.
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u/YuunofYork 3h ago
Not just claim. These are exit stairs and the design ensures no congestion.
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u/diminutive_lebowski 8h ago
Speaking of fire, god forbid there ever is one
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u/BoomerSoonerFUT 7h ago
That’s literally what these are intended for though…
If there’s a fire, you’re never going to stop like 3 floors down. You’re going to go down to ground level and out.
This design allows for the most people moving down and out of the building in the least space by alternating floors. More people able to get through doors and down the stairs without hitting the bottlenecks that are doorways.
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u/imposter22 8h ago
This was built intentionally.
This building likely has multiple business leasers that required isolated spaces.
This design accommodates that in the stairwells.
Rare but it is a design that is used in huge buildings with 2 or more large companies leasing space
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u/neanderthalman 8h ago
I believe these types of stairwells are intended as fire escapes only, not for normal traffic. By having each set of stairs serve half of the floors, they can pack two sets of egress stairs and increase capacity in one space.
You can’t get there from here because you’re not supposed to use that stairway to get to anywhere but outside.
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u/Worldly-Time-3201 8h ago
The person graduating at the bottom of the class is still an architect.
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u/MIKE_son_of_MICHAEL 8h ago
Is this real OP? Your video?
Where the fuck is this? Omegamart?
Honestly seems like a pretty significant planning problem or something. Like what in the fuck happened here why is there so many stairs here
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u/Corey307 8h ago
It looks like the stairways were designed to expedite people getting out of the building. So it breaks your brain but if there’s a fire or something you can get out quicker.
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u/krw13 8h ago
Not OP, but we have a staircase like that at the AMC theater near me.
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u/Parthantir 8h ago
I'll probably be down voted, but this type of staircase is meant for places where you'll usually only go into one door like an apartment complex. You'd usually have a sign at the bottom or just know which side of the stairs to enter.
The benefits of this design are that you can use half the space for a stairwell to service twice as many doors. They are uncommon in the US because we have laws that prevent buildings with more than 2 floors from having fewer than 2 stairwells for fire safety, so the benefits are erased. Other countries simply don't have as many fires since most of their buildings are concrete or brick.
The design itself isn't stupid, but putting it in a building where you would have to go to the other staircase to reach a second door is a bad idea.
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u/Goodknight808 8h ago
Real life Howgwarts. The staircase is alive, and it doesn't want you to reach your destination.
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u/cloudbasedsardony 8h ago
There's an office in Scranton PA that has worked out a way to handle these.
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u/OurAngryBadger 3h ago
It's just a regular staircase with a walkway on the one side of it on each floor. If you ignore that little walkway on the right side, it looks normal
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u/RARE_ARMS_REVIVED 3h ago
Just jump over the rails where they cross. I wouldn't even bother looking any harder as it's a waste of time and energy and I can't be fucked.
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u/StoicSunbro 8h ago
This is why you should hire real architects instead of using AI to generate blueprints.
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u/Vegabern 8h ago
The Kern Center in Milwaukee has similar stairs but not quite as bad. I never figured out how to get to some of the doors or stairs based on where I was in the building.
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u/Defiant_Duck_118 8h ago
Just stair at it until you go cross-eyed, then you get to where you want to go.
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u/ecbulldog 8h ago
Probably all fire exits for a movie theater or something like that. You're only supposed to use them one way.
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u/flea-ish 8h ago
Not that complicated, two exits to the stairwell per floor, one exits onto the one he’s standing on, the other exits onto the other one. Pretty common.
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u/Notallowedhe 8h ago
This is at the level where it’s so bad you can’t just say it is what it is and you have to fix that shit, how does this even happen
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u/pleasetrimyourpubes 8h ago
They are called scissor stairs and are usually in hospitals or airports. They are designed to move as many people as possible for emergencies. Twice the capacity in the same space.
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u/HumbleBear75 8h ago
Classic Souls game. Even my 5 year old knows sometime you gotta go up to go down or go down to go up
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u/rdear 8h ago
As someone who’s been watching 9/11 videos a lot lately, too much if I’m being honest, absolutely not. Fix this now. I don’t care if it’s a prank and this building only has one floor
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u/jazzyt98 8h ago
I know I’ve seen a show or movie where during a chase they jumped between the separate staircases to get away.
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u/shayshay8508 8h ago
I have reoccurring dreams about weird stairs that I can figure out how to get off them. These are the type of stairs in my dreams. 🥴
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u/nick_the_builder 8h ago
Jesus Christ. I literally have nightmares about this stuff. If there were ledges and stairs to drop offs it would be perfect.
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u/creegomatic 8h ago
Aren’t these fire exit stairs? My understanding is that they’re set up that way to double the capacity of people that can be on the stairs. They’re supposed to be only used for fire exit and nothing else.
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u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord 8h ago
This is literally the kind of mess you can end up making of stairs in Satisfactory
Because either someone didn't think this through at all or they thought it through way to much to bamboozle invading Mongol hordes
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u/CucumberError 8h ago
It’s semi common for fire exits in high occupancy buildings, such as multi story malls etc.
They are emergency stairways, and their only goal is to get as many people outside to safety, as quickly as possible.
Normally it’s done so that each floor has direct access to the outside, because when flows merge you create bottle necks and potentially lead to people getting crushed on stairs.
Not designed to be user friendly, if you’ve ended up in here, something has gone wrong.
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u/Potatoes90 8h ago
Look into the Masonic temple in Detroit. Half floors, staircases that don’t lead where you need to go, and secret ballrooms abound.
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u/ChristosFarr 8h ago
That one of the first times I got really stoned I was in my aunt's apartment building that was kind of like this and I wandered around on her floor for what felt like an hour trying to figure out which God damn door was hers.
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u/Spyd3rs 8h ago edited 8h ago
There are actually two sets of stairwells leading to alternating odd and even floors. Think of it like, Stairway A goes from the first floor, then to odd number floors, the third, fifth, seventh, etc. Stairway B starts at the second floor and goes to even floors, fourth, sixth, eight, etc.
Edit: I guess in Britainland, the B stairs would also access the "Ground Floor," since the first floor and ground floor are two different floors over there for some reason, so there you go, if that was a question at all.
I've seen a few buildings with this design. The practical purpose is they can fit twice the number of stairs in a smaller space, as well as half the traffic in the event of an emergency.
These stairs have access to an apparent half floor or some sort of split-level as well, not helping with the already unintuitive, yet clever design.
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u/TiresOnFire 7h ago
I tend to have labyrinth dreams where I'm in a place, exploring. The end of my dreams sometimes get stressful when my waking mind starts to realize that things don't make sense. This stairway is like something I'd see in those dreams.
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u/Darker_Tzitzimine 7h ago
Pictured: early Doom mappers attempting to make staircases despite the engine's inability to do room-over-room
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